Times of Change
by sunshinefairy
Summary: James Lily, Lily, James, read it to find out what happens between them...
1. Chapter 1

Times of Change  
  
Ok, this is a fic about lily and James in their final year of Hogwarts. I have no idea how long it going to be so I'll just see what happens, this is my first fanfic for this site so be nice!  
  
------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1 It was the last day of the school holidays and Lily Evens was sitting in her room polishing her head girl badge. She'd got the letter telling her she was going to be head girl two weeks before and as a reward her mum had given her some money which she had changed into wizard gold. She had brooded over what to buy with the money for a while, but eventually decided to buy an owl because she was fed up of using the owls at the post office. She smiled as she what had happened when she had come in to show her family her new barn owl, which she had named Nicodemus.  
  
******** "He-llo, I'm ho-ome" Lily called as she stepped inside her house. "We're in here dear," Her mum called back from the living room. Lily entered the Evans' living room carrying Nicodemus' cage under one arm and shopping bags, with her school supplies under her other arm. Petunia had been filing her nails while on the phone to one of her airhead friends. When she saw Lily her eyes travelled down to the cage and a look of disgust crossed her face. She muttered a hurried "I'll call you back" put the phone down with a bang and said coldly, "What the hell are you playing at, bringing that dirty, great thing into our lounge, what if the neighbours see?" She craned her neck to look out the window as if she was expecting to see a crowd of spectators. "It's an owl Petunia, not a thing and I bought him with the money mum and dad gave me for becoming head girl. And you can stop looking out the window, the neighbours don't give a damn. You see, unlike you they don't spend their whole lives spying people through their bedroom widows," Lily replied calmly. "Mum?!?" Petunia's voice was getting higher and higher as she went on, "Tell her to bring that thing back to where she got it or throw it out the window. Wait not out the window, someone might see.ehh.she could... well I don't know how exactly, just tell her to get rid of it! What if one of my friends see it, they'll think I'm a freak, my life will be ruined, I'll be a social disgrace." Petunia stopped talking and took a huge breath but before she could go on, her mum interrupted. "Petunia dear, I think your getting a little bit worked up over a tiny, little thing. Lily and her owl will be gone by next week and she'll keep it upstairs so no one will see. Won't you Lily?" Lily could see her mum was trying not to smile, "Yeh, whatever keeps ickle Tunia happy" Lily replied. "DON'T CALL ME THAT!!" Petunia screeched lunging forward towards Lily, but Lily was too fast for her and she stepped out of the way causing Petunia to crash into the coffee table. Petunia stopped and screamed, Lily took this chance to run up the stairs grinning.  
  
****************** Lily smiled and put her badge on her bedside table, then climbed into bed thinking about Hogwarts.  
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What did you think??? Please review and tell me whether I should keep going or not. If you review I promise I'll love you for ever and ever and ever and so on.  
  
*~fairywings~* 


	2. Chapter 2

I'm very, very, very sorry I didn't update sooner, I went away on holiday, then school started again, blah blah blah. But Jane kindly reminded me about this so here is,  
  
(thanks to the people who reviewed!!)  
  
This is meant to be the same day as last chapter, but with other people, so doesn't get confused!  
  
~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~  
  
"JAMES, WAKEY WAKEY" Sirius Black yelled into the ear of James Potter. Sirius was staying at James' house for the summer holidays, to get away from his "hell hole".  
  
"What?" James replied blearily "I wash shleepin and you woke me up"  
  
Sirius laughed, "God, you sound drunk or something, but I just got an owl from Remus"  
  
"You woke me up to tell me you got an owl from Remus? Well I think I'll just go back to sleep" James turned over and pulled his covers over him head.  
  
"No." Sirius pulled James's covers off the bed, "I got an owl From Remus telling us that he's head boy!!"  
  
"Really, well it doesn't come as much of a surprise does it?"  
  
"You sound really happy for him" Sirius said sarcastically.  
  
"I am, it's just really early" James said, then he waved his arms round unenthusiastically "woo-hoo, that any better for you?"  
  
Sirius smiled "Tons better. Guess whose head girl?"  
  
"You?" James replied smirking.  
  
Sirius shook his head happily "Almost... But, no"  
  
"Hmm, who's as big a prat as you are" James pretended to be racking his brains "nope can't think of anyone Padfoot"  
  
"It's Lily!!" Sirius shouted.  
  
"Lily Evans? Oh shit"  
  
Sirius looked confused "I thought you'd be happy, you've been bloody obsessed with that girl for ages."  
  
"Yeah, but she hates me doesn't she, she'd like any excuse to make my life hell."  
  
Well...you could say she's not that fond of you, but hate is a bit strong, isn't it?" Sirius said lightly.  
  
"Sirius, she gave me more detentions last year that I'd had in the rest of my school years put together, and that's a lot!"  
  
"Ahh well, just steer clear of her instead of following her around and she might feel less inclined to keep giving you detention."  
  
"Yeah I suppose. Let's go and get some breakfast."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
I know it's not very long but I'll try to make the next chapter longer. Please review!!  
  
Sunshinefairy** 


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, thanks so much for the reviews! They were all really nice, and I'll try to make my chapters longer!  
  
MysticAngel4- thanks for telling me about the James/Remus head boy thing, but I've started off with Remus as head boy so I'm going to keep it that way for this fic.  
  
On with the story...  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Lily stood at Kings cross station and kissed her mum and dad goodbye, then she ran forwards and slid magically through the barrier between platforms eight and nine. She stood for a minute, looking around to see if she could find any of her friends. All of a sudden she heard someone yelling  
  
"Lilly!! Over here Lilly!!" she turned around to see one of her best friend Beth standing beside the train. Lily dragged here suitcase over to her and said hi. Even though they had seen each other over the holidays they still had loads of catching up to do.  
  
They were talking about their holidays when Rachael, came over to them. Rachael, Beth and Lily were best friends and had been ever since they were put in Gryffindor together. They all looked very different. Rachael was tall with coffee coloured skin, very dark eyes and black curly hair streaked with red. Beth was small, had blonde hair, grey eyes and was always very pale, except when she was embarrassed when she went bright red. Lily was average height, had bright red wavy hair, and had very green almond shaped eyes. All three girls were quite good looking, but Rachael was definitely the most striking and always had a group of boys following her around. She was currently going out with Sirius Black, this annoyed Lily because it meant they had to hang out with him and his friends, she liked most of his friends but hated James Potter.  
  
"I need to go and see Professor McGonagall before the train goes" Lily told her friends, who already knew about her being head girl.  
  
"Ok, we'll take your trunk into a carriage and you can come and find us when you're finished with McGonagall" Beth said picking up Lily's trunk. James and Sirius travelled to the Kingscross Station by themselves. They walked casually through the between platform eight and platform nine and after a few minutes they met Remus Lupin. They stood and talked for a while until they realised that everyone else was on the train and the train was about to leave.  
  
"I was meant to go and see McGonagall before the train left" Remus said suddenly. "You two go and find a carriage and I'll come and sit with you once I've seen Professor McGonagall" Remus said to James and Sirius and ran off leaving them with his trunk.  
  
When Remus got to the carriage where he had been told to meet Professor McGonagall, she was already there talking to Lily Evans.  
  
"Hi" Remus panted "I'm really sorry I'm late"  
  
Professor McGonagall turned to look at him and said, "That's alright, just don't let it happen again Lupin, you are head boy now and have to set a good example."  
  
"Yeah, good example, won't happen again Professor."  
  
Meanwhile Sirius and James were trying to find a free carriage and not having such much success. The last carriage they got to had only two people in it, Rachael and Beth.  
  
"Sirius!" Rachael exclaimed excitedly, getting up and running to give him a kiss. Sirius grinned, gave her a hug and went to sit beside her. James sat beside Beth who asked him "Where's the third musketeer?"  
  
"Remus?" James asked,  
  
"Uh-hu" Beth nodded her head,  
  
"He's off speaking to Professor McGonangall about his head boy duties or something" he told Beth, then asked "Is that where Lily is?"  
  
"Yup, except she's not talking about head boy duties" James laughed and they started talking about their holidays. Beth and James got on well, they were both on the quidditch team, James was a keeper and Beth a chaser.  
  
Lilly and James walked along the train talking and looking for their friends. They had various duties to do, but they also had privileges, which included being allowed out of their common room later than everyone else, and using the library after Madam Pince left.  
  
They found their friends just as the food trolley reached their carriage, so they had to stand and wait until Sirius had bought half the trolley. The witch with the food trolley waved her wand and the empty trays filled with sweets, then she moved on to the next carriage.  
  
Lily entered and went to sit beside Beth, Remus followed her and sat beside James who had been watching Lily avidly. Remus snapped his fingers in front of James' face and James turned to look at him,  
  
"What, what is it?" he said quickly, blushing slightly. Remus just shook his head and smiled.  
  
After an hour on the train, Remus had fallen asleep, Beth was reading, Rachael and Sirius were "busy" and James and Lily were both looking out the window feeling extremely bored.  
  
"Have a good summer?" James asked Lily.  
  
"Yes" she answered shortly "did you?"  
  
Yup, I went away to France, it was dead hot and there was loads of fit chicks there" James said without thinking who he was talking to.  
  
"God, do you think of anything else?" Lily said frowning.  
  
"Yeah, I do, I think about loads of other stuff actually"  
  
"Oh yeah, like what?"  
  
"Quidditch and.. stuff."  
  
Lily snorted, "Quidditch and stuff"  
  
James glared at her. Why didn't she like him, they had stuff in common, she liked quidditch, so did he. She was clever so was he. James woke Remus up and dragged him out of their compartment into the corridor of the train to tell him this.  
  
"Erm, I don't know how to break this to you James" Remus said, "sure, you're both clever, but she doesn't go around announcing how clever she is and hexing people just to show she can. Does she?"  
  
"Well, no. But I don't announce how clever I am, I just tell people if they ask and I don't hex people to show I can, I hex them because they annoy me" James retorted.  
  
Remus grimaced, this was going to be hard, "Well, as long as you keep going round hexing everyone who annoys you and telling people how clever you are, she's not going to go out with you."  
  
"Why not?" James asked exasperatedly.  
  
"Because she likes sensitive guys, nice guys"  
  
"I am nice!!!" James said angrily.  
  
"Yeah, I know you're nice, but Lily doesn't think so, I mean you've never exactly charming towards her have you?"  
  
"I was nice to her just there and she wasn't very nice to me."  
  
"Well, she's going to wonder why you're being so nice all of a sudden, you can't blame her for being horrible to you."  
  
"Yes I can" James muttered "What can I do then, to make her be nice to me?"  
  
"You'll just have to be persistent, if she's horrible to you don't say something nasty back, just keep being nice."  
  
"How will that work?" James asked.  
  
"It's really hard to be horrible to some one if they're being nice to you, believe me, she'll have to start being nice to you eventually."  
  
"Fine, I'll try being nice to her, but you'll have to help me. I say stuff without meaning to sometimes." James said looking at Remus dolefully.  
  
Remus laughed, "I'll help you, I just hope this works."  
  
"Yeah, it better," James said, "because if it doesn't I'm blaming you."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
I hope that's long enough for you! What did you think, please review and tell me. 


	4. Chapter 4

Hey, I realized that I my last chapter I wrote that James was a keeper, but he was a chaser or was he a seeker I am just totally confused here? Anyway, I'll try and find out what he is for the next chapter.  
  
Chapter 4  
  
"Lily! Over here," Rachael yelled pulling Lily into a seat between her and Beth.  
  
It had been raining when they got out of the coaches and Lily had been caught up in the crowd. She sat down and brushed he hair out of her face.  
  
"God, it's like a bloody stampede out there." She said grumpily, "I'm starving, where's the food?"  
  
"We need to watch the sorting ceremony before we can start the feast." Beth said, nodding towards the long line of first years waiting to be sorted.  
  
"Oh yeah, why is nothing going right for me??" Lily whined.  
  
"You'll be fine once you've had something to eat." Beth said.  
  
"Yeah, you better be happy once you've had some food because." Rachael began, but Professor McGonagall had started the sorting so she couldn't go on.  
  
Meanwhile Sirius, James, Remus and Peter were sitting further down the table discussing James's "plan" to get Lily to go out with him.  
  
"So?" James asked Sirius after telling him what he was going to do, "What do you think?"  
  
Sirius clapped him on the back and said "Can I have your broomstick?"  
  
"What?" James looked at him strangely.  
  
"When Lily kills you, can I have your broom?"  
  
"Lily is not going to kill him" Remus said "She is going to go out with him"  
  
"Yeah, whatever," Sirius turned to James, " Prongs, face it mate, Lily's not going to go out with you, and there's piles of other girls who would kill to have just one date with you, so why don't you forget about Lily and find yourself another chick."  
  
"Because I'm not like you Sirius, I used to be like you, one girl one week, another the next, but I dunno, what's the point?"  
  
"I've been going out with Rachael for a month" Sirius said.  
  
"Yeah, I suppose, but at least you've got the girl you like, the girl I like hates me."  
  
James hung his head looking thoroughly depressed.  
  
James and Sirius were probably the best looking boys in their year and up until 5th year they had both used this to get the things, and girls they wanted. But then James had fallen for Lily Evans, who was pretty and popular James's ideal girl, there was only one problem, Lily hated James.  
  
She hated the way he teased people like Snape, and the way he acted as if he was the King of the world, someone everyone should try to be like. But recently she had found herself caring what James would think and looking forward to seeing him in class in the mornings and this is what made her hate him the most. She couldn't help it but she was slowly falling for him, and she thought the only way to stop herself from falling in love with him completely was to be even more horrible to him than she was before.  
  
Lily thought that James only wanted to go out with her so he could and her name to his long list of girlfriends, but she was wrong. James really cared about Lily and since he had fallen for her in his 5th year, he hadn't even looked twice at any other girl. Although James really like Lily, he didn't know what to say to her and would always come out with something offending and she would just roll her eyes and walk away, but because I was they're final year of Hogwarts and James's last chance with Lily he was desperate. He would do anything to get her to go out with him.  
  
Sirius looked at James's sad face and said, "Alright, I'll try to help, but I don't know how much good I'll be, I mean Rachael's kind of different from Lily isn't she?"  
  
"Yeah, I know," James said "It's alright, just don't be so negative okay? Lily's going to fall head over heels in love with me this year, you wait and see"  
  
Remus, Sirius and Peter all looked disbelieving.  
  
James began to look depressed again. "This is our 7th year" He said desperately "Lily must have realized how much I care about her by now"  
  
Sirius looked down the table at Lily and her friends,"Yeah, I'm sure she has" he lied.  
  
***************  
  
I was going to stop here, but it's not as long as I thought it was so I'll add some more.  
  
***************  
  
It was the end of the feast and Lily, Beth and Rachael were coming out of the great hall feeling very full and tired.  
  
"I need sleeeep" Rachael moaned holding her stomach "I feel sick"  
  
Beth laughed, "That's not surprising seeing as you ate three times as much as me and Lily did"  
  
"That's what I like in a girl" Sirius said appearing and putting his arm around Rachael, "A nice healthy appetite."  
  
"God, you sound like my mother!" Rachael said.  
  
"Is that bad?"  
  
"Erm. lets just say you could be worse"  
  
Then she kissed him and ran off to join Lily and Beth.  
  
*************  
  
Okay, so the end bit was completely random, but I was trying to make it longer! So please review and tell me what you thought. 


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you so much to those who reviewed!  
  
Disclaimer: Ha, I wish. I am not J.K Rowling and sadly never will be.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
The second day of term was a Sunday so there was no classes. Most of the Gryffindor students slept in, savouring their last day of the holidays, but James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, who shared a dorm, were all awake working out a "plan of action" for James.  
  
"Well you'll have to stop hexing people" Remus said.  
  
"And Jinxing them" Peter added  
  
"And transfiguring them" Sirius said grinning.  
  
"Its not funny Padfoot" James whined. But he was only making Sirius laugh more.  
  
"And you'll have to stop showing off about how good you are at quidditch, and boasting about how clever you are, and being rude to people.."  
  
"Eh, Remus, I do not show off or boast, and I am not rude to people." James said.  
  
"Yeah, whatever." Sirius said "You also need to stop following Lily around like a lost puppy."  
  
"Hello??" James said, "Are you even listening to me? I am not rude and I'm not a show off."  
  
"Maybe" Remus said before Sirius could answer James back, "We should concentrate on the things that you * should * do not the things you shouldn't."  
  
"Yeah, ok" James said. "So, do you think I should go down and see if she's in the common room."  
  
"Yes," Sirius answered "and if she is you should go up to her and tell her that she's looking mighty fine today."  
  
"No!" Remus said, "You shouldn't talk to her you should talk to her friends, but don't make it look like you came down to talk to them, bring a book or something and then sit near them and just join in their conversation."  
  
"Ok," James said, looking very confused, "why can't I talk to Lily?"  
  
"Well, you can talk to her, but only if she talks to you first. It'll make you look less desperate."  
  
"Gee thanks, now I'm a desperate, rude, arrogant show off."  
  
"Stop complaining and go and check if she's in the common room." Sirius said.  
  
"I can't, she might see me." James replied, "Peter you check" James turned to look at Peter who had fallen asleep again.  
  
"God almighty" James said while Sirius and Remus laughed loudly.  
  
Their laughing woke Peter up and he sat up saying, "Sorry, I think I dozed off, what did I miss?"  
  
"I'm leaving." James said, picking 'Quidditch through the Ages' from his bedside table and walking towards the door.  
  
"Ok, we'll come down in 15 minute" Remus said, before turning and beginning to explain to Peter what he had missed.  
  
James felt very nervous as he walked down the stairs. "Get a grip on yourself" he said to himself, "It's only Lily, you're not normally this nervous".  
  
"Talking to yourself? It's the first sign of madness you know."  
  
James jumped and turned around to see who had spoken, it was a sixth year called Andrew McDonald. He was on the quidditch team with James. "Don't do that Andrew you gave me a fright."  
  
"Sorry mate." Andrew replied, "I was just wondering when we're starting quidditch practice again?"  
  
"Eh, I'm not sure, I haven't really thought about it yet." James said, messing his hair up with his hand.  
  
"What?" Andrew pretended to stumble backwards with shock, "James Potter, has 'not really thought' about quidditch. Are you ill or something?"  
  
James grinned sheepishly, "No, just had other thing on my mind"  
  
"Well, whatever these other things are, they must be pretty important to stop you even thinking about quidditch." Andrew said.  
  
James could see Lily with her head buried in a book out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah," he said "yeah, they're very important."  
  
***  
  
Lily was sitting in the common room with Beth and Rachael trying to read her book but not getting very far because Beth and Rachael kept trying to include her in their conversation. She saw a figure coming down the boys' staircase and as he got closer she realised it was James Potter, suddenly her stomach felt fluttery, but the feeling went away as quickly had come so she thought nothing of it. She saw a tall stocky sixth year go up to him and heard him ask about quidditch practice. She was very surprised when James replied that he hadn't thought about it because he had other things on his mind. Normally, for James Potter quidditch was always the first thing on his mind, Hogwarts could fall down during a quidditch practice and he would keep steaming on. She kept staring at her book but wasn't really reading it.  
  
James walked past her chair without saying anything to her. Lily was even more surprised than before, he usually couldn't even get near her without saying something stupid. He then sat down in the chair next to Beth's even thought the one next to Lily was empty and opened his book.  
  
"You're up early" Rachael said to James.  
  
"Yeah, I know" James said, "It's a beautiful morning" he grinned and looked out the window, the sky was grey and it looked like it was about to start raining. "Or it might just be because I couldn't get back to sleep.  
  
Rachael laughed. "Beth woke us up this morning, didn't you Beth dear?"  
  
"Well if Lily will leave her suitcase in the middle of the floor for some poor unsuspecting person to trip over in the dark what can you expect?" Beth said with a smile.  
  
"You didn't have to yell quite as loudly as you did though." Rachael said, she was smiling too, they often had play fights like this.  
  
"Well it hurt like hell"  
  
"Yeah, excuses, excuses. Well anyway Beth woke Lily and I up and unlike Lucy we didn't go back to sleep."(Lucy was they're roommate.)  
  
James smiled as well. "I think Remus and Sirius are asleep" he lied. "And I know Peter's asleep."  
  
"Charming little Peter" Beth said. Peter had had a crush on Beth for a long time and always managed to make a fool of himself in front of her.  
  
James and Rachael laughed. James glanced over at Lily, who was staring at her book but her eyes weren't moving at all and he had a funny feeling that she was listening o their conversation. He really wanted to say something to her but didn't. Instead he turned to Beth and said, "When do you want to start quidditch practice again?"  
  
"Hey, that's up to you. Captain" she said, giving him a mock salute.  
  
He laughed "Okay, we'll start soon, we don't want to lose the cup do we?"  
  
"God no" Beth said. "Can you imagine Snape's face if Slytherin won?"  
  
"Yes, I can and it wouldn't be a pretty sight." James said.  
  
"It never is a pretty sight." Rachael said.  
  
Lily looked up expecting to see James laughing but he wasn't. Beth was laughing and Rachael was grinning widely but James was just smiling slightly. James caught her eye and she blushed and looked back down at her book.  
  
James had seen Lily look up, and this was why he wasn't laughing. Lily didn't like it when he made fun of Snape so he wouldn't laugh when others made fun of him. She saw him looking at her and blushed. He smiled slightly, that had to be the first time she had blushed when she caught him staring at her, normally she would just ask him what he was staring at.  
  
Lily was confused, James looked like he was smiling at some private joke and not at what Rachael had said. And when she had seen him staring at her she had felt herself blushing. She did not want to blush when James Potter stared at her, because that would only encourage him and she didn't want that, or did she? What was she thinking! Of course she didn't want him to stare at her.  
  
James was still looking at Lily, she was getting redder and redder and he couldn't help hoping that she was thinking about him.  
  
At that moment Sirius and Remus came down the stairs talking and Peter was trailing behind. They went over to where James and the others were sitting.  
  
"Decided to get up did you?" James said.  
  
"We were alrea." Peter began, but Sirius kicked him, a little harder than necessary and said, "Yeah we did."  
  
"Wanna go get breakfast?" Remus asked, pretending to look tired.  
  
"Sure" James said.  
  
"You coming?" Sirius asked Rachael.  
  
"Yup" she replied, "Lily? Beth?"  
  
Beth stood up, but Lily looked flustered and said "I'll catch you up, I need to put my book up in my room." And she hurried away up the stairs, trying to push James Potter out of her head.  
  
**********  
  
Hope you like this chapter. Please review and tell me what you think. 


	6. Chapter 6

Hey, thanks for reviewing!  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 6  
  
Lily sat on her bed thinking. What the hell was the matter with James Potter? He wasn't being a prat he wasn't even talking to her. She sat thinking for a little bit longer then decided that this could only mean he had finally got over her. She sighed with relief, that had to be a good thing, now maybe she would be able to have a decent conversation with him. His best friend was going out with her best friend so it had been kind of annoying that her and James didn't get on. She smiled, glad that she had got that off her mind and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast.  
  
When she got down she sat in an empty chair next to Rachael, opposite James Potter and his friends.  
  
"What took you so long?" Rachael asked Lily, passing her some toast and the butter.  
  
"Oh, you know," Lily answered vaguely, "Chatting to people, haven't seen loads of people since before the summer.  
  
This answer seemed to satisfy Rachael because she just nodded and carried on eating her cereal.  
  
************  
  
"It's our final day of freedom before school starts again" James said to Sirius, Remus and Peter, "We better make the most of it."  
  
""Eh, I won't be very free" Sirius said sheepishly, "I haven't done the essay Professor McGonagall set us to do in the holidays."  
  
"Sirius! She wants two rolls of parchment and we have transfiguration first thing tomorrow." Remus said.  
  
"Yeah, I know, but the essay is on animagi, and I know a bit about animagi. If you know what I mean." Sirius gave a very obvious wink.  
  
"Subtle Padfoot." James said thickly through a mouth full of scrambled eggs.  
  
"Don't be such a worrier Prongs, nobody's listening."  
  
But he was wrong Lily Evans had been listening.  
  
**********  
  
Lily was sitting eating her breakfast listening to he conversations of the people around her. This was a very bad habit of hers but when she was surrounded by lots of people talking she couldn't help listening into their conversations. She heard a fifth year girl boring everyone around her by telling a very long extremely uninteresting story about her Gran's dog dying of kidney failure. Lily didn't even know a dog could get kidney failure and didn't care that this girl's Gran's dog had. She turned her attention to James Potter and his friends. They were talking about the transfiguration essay they had been given just before the holidays to complete during the summer. Lily had done her essay ages ago but wasn't surprised to hear that Sirius hadn't even started his.  
  
She heard Sirius say, "But the essay is on animagi, and I know a bit about animagi. If you know what I mean." Then wink very obviously.  
  
James gave him a strange look and said "Subtle, Padfoot."  
  
Sirius had grinned and said in a mocking way, ""Don't be such a worrier Prongs, nobody's listening."  
  
Lily wondered what that was all about, why shouldn't Sirius know about animagi? He was very clever and would probably get top marks for his essay even though he had left it to the last minute, but Sirius was talking about something James obviously didn't want people to know about. She wouldn't be surprised if they were trying to become animagi, they loved showing off they're talents and this would be another way to do so. Lily smiled to herself as she thought about the animals they would become. "Something really arrogant," she said to herself.  
  
"Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness you know?" Rachael said to Lily.  
  
"Really?" Lily said still smiling, "In that case I must be completely insane, I'm always talking to myself."  
  
"Well your secret's safe with me," Rachael said pretending to zip her lips shut.  
  
Lily laughed and they left the hall with Beth.  
  
**********  
  
On Monday morning Lily woke up late, only to discover that her roommates had all gone to have their breakfast without waking her up. She turned to look at her alarm clock, which said one thirty am. "Brilliant" she said to herself, "The bloody thing's stopped working on the first day of term. Bloody brilliant." She picked up her watch which was thankfully still working and realised she only had 40 minutes to find her robes and books (which she still hadn't unpacked), get washed and dressed, go and have breakfast and get to her first class.  
  
She picked her timetable up from he chest of drawers. She had transfiguration first, followed by double Charms, and double Defence against the Dark Arts. She searched through her trunk, "Robes" she said throwing her school robes onto her bed, "Potions books, essay for Charms, Charms books, where the hell is my transfiguration stuff?!?" Lily began throwing all her things onto her bed in a frantic search for her transfiguration books and essay. She sighed with relief as she pulled her, slightly crumpled, essay out of the very bottom of her trunk along with her two transfiguration books. She looked at her watch, "Shit!" She had spent fifteen minutes looking for her robes and books. She rushed into the bathroom, promising herself that she would try to be more organised in future. After a quick shower she went back into her bedroom, dried her hair with a charm and began packing her bag. It was full to bursting and very heavy, so she bewitched it to make it feather light (thank you third HP book), and hurried downstairs.  
  
There was no time for her to have breakfast but her stomach was rumbling loudly. "Shut up" she said to her tummy, a few people looked strangely at her but she ignored them and climbed out of the portrait hole where she bumped into,  
  
"Potter!"  
  
**********  
  
James went down to breakfast with Remus and Sirius. Peter had gone down earlier. When they got to the Gryffindor table Sirius pushed his plate away and said "Prongs can I * please * see you're essay for McGonagall?"  
  
"You said you finished that last night." Remus said.  
  
"Yeah, well I left the conclusion to do this morning and I just need a push in the right direction. So can I, please?"  
  
"Yeah whatever, it's in my bag." James said distractedly looking around the hall.  
  
"Who are you looking for?" Remus asked him.  
  
"Lily." James replied, "All her friends are over there, but she's missing."  
  
"Ask them where she is on the way out." Sirius suggested.  
  
"Yeah I think I will." James said. He turned to Sirius who was gazing around the hall, "I thought you were meant to be doing that essay?"  
  
"Yup, I am" Sirius said, "Nearly finished. last sentence. there, done!"  
  
"Let's have a look" James said, "Sirius! You've just copied what I wrote."  
  
"No I haven't."  
  
James looked at him "Don't tell porky pies Padfoot you have copied mine."  
  
Sirius pretended to look hurt, " I haven't, honest. I changed some stuff. Here look," and he started to point out some minor changes.  
  
"Yeah, yeah I get you're point," James said butted in, "You made a few changes but you basically copied it."  
  
"And here I put, 'animagi are watched closely by the ministry' and you put, 'the ministry watches animagi closely'" Sirius said ignoring James.  
  
"Will you two stop arguing please." Remus said.  
  
"Sorry Moony" James said, "But next time, you lend him you're homework."  
  
When they had finished their breakfast Remus and Sirius headed towards the door, but James went over to Rachael and Beth who were sitting with a group of other girls.  
  
"Where's Lily?" James asked Beth quietly.  
  
"I'm not sure," Beth replied, "I didn't wake her up this morning, because I heard he tossing around late last night so I thought she might want to sleep in a little bit this morning. Her alarm clock will have woken her up though. She mustn't have felt like having breakfast or she would have come down by now." Then she smiled, "Not like Lily to not feel like breakfast mind you."  
  
"Right, thanks." James said reaching over and taking two pieces of hot buttered toast.  
  
"You must be hungry." Beth said to him looking at the pieces of toast.  
  
"What? Oh yeah." James said, "Well, see you later."  
  
"Yeah, later."  
  
***  
  
Sirius and Remus were waiting in the entrance hall for James.  
  
"Well?" Sirius asked expectantly.  
  
"She was still in bed last time Beth saw." James told him.  
  
"Well if she still is she's going to miss class." Remus said looking at his watch.  
  
"Yeah, I'm going to go up and make sure she's ok," James said, "and give her this toast. So I'll see you two in transfiguration."  
  
"Alright, but don't say anything stupid." Remus said.  
  
"It's ok Moony, I'm not four."  
  
"I know, its just sometimes you act like you are." Remus said grinning.  
  
"I'm deeply hurt." James said, also grinning. "See you in transfiguration."  
  
**********  
  
James made his way to the Gryffindor tower, toast in his hand. He got to the portrait hole and was just about to say the password when some one came out the portrait hole and crashed into him. He saw a red head and heard the person say, "Potter!"  
  
"Evans."  
  
"What are you doing up here?" Lily asked James.  
  
"I noticed you weren't at breakfast so I brought you some toast. I figured you must be hungry." James replied, holding up the toast.  
  
"Oh. Right. Thanks." Lily said uneasily. "You didn't have to."  
  
"I know, I wanted to."  
  
Lily felt bemused. This had to be the nicest thing James had ever done for her, even if it was only bringing her toast.  
  
"We better go, don't want to be late for transfiguration." Lily said blushing.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
They walked in silence for a while then when they turned a corner they saw Snape being told off by the care taker for bringing mud into the castle.  
  
"Ha," James said, to himself more than to Lily. "Snivellus can't help bring filth where ever he goes."  
  
Lily stopped walking and glared at James. "You know what Potter?" she said angrily, "I was just thinking that you had grown up over the holidays and stopped being such a prick. But now I realise that I couldn't have been more wrong, you're still as big a git as ever!" Then she stormed off to class.  
  
"Oops, sorry Moony." James said to himself as he trailed after her.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
I hope that was okay. Please review! 


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry I haven't updated for a while, I have so much homework to get through, but here is the next chapter.  
  
Chapter 7  
  
"Potter, you're late." Professor McGonagal said sharply as James entered the class five minutes after the bell had rung.  
  
"Yeah, sorry about that." He replied, looking around the class for and empty seat.  
  
"Yes, well if it happens again you'll be getting detention. I do not tolerate lateness." Professor McGonagal said. "I was just explaining to the class Mr. Potter, that I have a arranged a seating plan because I find that people work better if they are not sitting next to their friends."  
  
James looked around again to try to see where he would be sitting. The only empty seat was in the middle of the class, next to Lily Evans. "Please, no." he whispered quietly to himself.  
  
"Your seat is next to Miss Evans, please go and take your books out." She turned to the class. "Today's lesson will be a written one, so could you please put your quills away."  
  
James went and took his seat without looking at Lily who was staring straight in front of her. Professor McGonagal gave them questions to answer and the class sat in silence as they worked on them.  
  
James was thinking that if he could just turn the clock back half an hour, then maybe Lily wouldn't be sitting ignoring him when he felt something hit him on the back of his head. It was a piece of scrunched up parchment thrown by Sirius, who was sitting behind him.  
  
The note said, * What did you do to Lily? She looked pretty angry when she came in*  
  
James began to write a reply on the back of Sirius' note,  
  
* Well, everything was going well, I even made her smile, but then we saw Snape getting into trouble and I couldn't help making a ... comment about him, and Lily just yelled at me and stormed off*  
  
James chucked the note over his shoulder, hoping it would land on Sirius' desk. I must have, because a minute later another piece of parchment landed on his desk. James picked it up and read it.  
  
* I'm guessing the comment you made wasn't pleasant * James read the note and replied;  
  
* Emm, no, it wasn't very kind *  
  
James heard Sirius' quill scratch as he began to write another note, when Professor McGonagal looked at them and said, "If I see either of you two boys throw another note, you will be spending your evening in detention with me, understood?"  
  
They both nodded, and James heard Lily mutter, "They deserve to get a detention now, they've been throwing them for ages."  
  
"Could you repeat that a little louder?" James asked Lily sweetly.  
  
"Nah" Lily said, "don't think I will." And she went back to sucking the end of her sugar quill and trying to work out the answers to the questions they had been given.  
  
James watched her for a while. Her hair was falling over her face, which was frowning in concentration. Every now and then she would reach up and tuck her hair behind her ear. He knew loads of guys found Lily really attractive and wondered why she had been out with so few people.  
  
Lily could feel James looking at her and it was making her feel uncomfortable, she was used to him staring at her but it was making her feel strange, almost embarrassed this time. "Take a picture, it will last longer," she muttered to James.  
  
"I would, if you'd let me, but I have a feeling u wouldn't. Plus I don't think Professor McGonagal would be very happy if I took out a camera and started clicking away like a maniac." James muttered back.  
  
"Yeah, well you'll have to live with out a photo then, but could you * please * quit looking at me?"  
  
"Ok, ok, I won't look at you, don't get your knickers in a twist."  
  
"Oh don't worry. I won't." Lily said coldly and went back to her work feeling a bit guilty. All he had been doing was looking at her and that wasn't really a reason to snap at him, she should have been flattered. But suddenly she was noticing his attention a lot more than usual, she normally just ignored him.  
  
***************  
  
Rachael, Beth and Lily were sitting having their lunch when Rachael brought up the subject of James. "So what happened with you two in transfiguration this morning?" she asked Lily.  
  
"Nothing happened," Lily snapped back, "James was just being his usual immature self."  
  
"Oh, come on, that's not fair," Beth said, "He's a lot more grown up than he used to be."  
  
"Really? I hadn't noticed." Lily said tartly.  
  
"Stop being such a grouch Lily." Rachael said, "You never used to care about James."  
  
"I know, I'm sorry, don't know what's wrong with me." Lily said apologetically.  
  
Beth grinned and said, "Maybe, it's that time of the month." Lily and Rachael laughed and started talking about Charms.  
  
****************  
  
James was talking to Remus, Sirius and Peter. (a/n, sorry if I don't talk about Peter that much, I tend to sort of forget about him.)  
  
"Well," James said, "I don't think the plan is going to work."  
  
"Prongs we have been back at school for about three days." Remus said.  
  
"And in those three days Lily has made it plain that there is no chance at all that she likes me, let alone loves me." James said taking a bite of his sandwich.  
  
"She's always been like that." Sirius said.  
  
"It's not like how she used to act, I know that she's always found me a bit annoying, but she seems to really hate me now."  
  
"Don't be such an idiot, like I said before, we've been back at school or three days, and you want to give up on Lily." Remus said.  
  
"No, you've got it all wrong, I'm not going to give up on Lily, I'm just going to use different tactics."  
  
"But, you just said that there was no chan." Remus said but James interrupted him,  
  
"Well, she doesn't think that she likes me, but she must deep down."  
  
"What exactly makes you think that?" Sirius asked that.  
  
"Shh," James said, "Like I was saying she doesn't know that she likes me, so I'm going to let her know."  
  
"James, you've been trying to pursuade her that she likes you for years." Remus said.  
  
"I know, but I've been going about it all wrong, I've been following her around but now, I'm going to stop following her, I'm going to flirt like mad with other girls and ignore her."  
  
"Won't she just be relieved that you've stopped annoying her?" Peter asked.  
  
"No!" James said happily, "She'll get jealous and realise that she's madly in love with me."  
  
"Are you sure this will work?" Remus asked James.  
  
"Positive." James replied grinning like a maniac. "Now, I've got to go and put my plan into action, see you later." He gave them a wave and waltzed over to some girls sitting near them.  
  
"I have a feeling that he is going to get hurt." Remus said watching him.  
  
"We'll have to be here to break his fall." Sirius said also watching James, then he stopped looking at James and said, "Did I just say that?"  
  
"Yup," Remus said smiling, "It has to be one of the most sensible things I've ever heard you say."  
  
Sirius looked horrified and said "I don't do sensible."  
  
"I'm almost positive it won't happen again any time soon." Remus said, still smiling widely.  
  
Sirius just muttered, "It better not."  
  
***************************  
  
You like? Review and tell me, go on, it's not that hard!  
  
Hpswimmer- I'm not sure why I made them all talk to themselves, I'm always talking to myself, I really should stop it's not a great habit, but anyway I tried to make them talk to themselves less in this one.  
  
HarryGryffinGirl - thank you so much for reviewing again! You're reviews are really nice  
  
Angelbud2233 - thanks for your review, I read you're story, it's really good.  
  
allie kat5 - I'm glad you like the story and yet again thanks for the review 


	8. Chapter 8

Right ok, I have a serious apology. I know I haven't updated in ages, I didn't really know where I was going with this story, I have more of an idea now, although I'm not completely sure what's going to happen. But when I saw that people had reviewed and wrote some really nice things I had to try and write the next chapters. So thank you to everyone who reviewed!  
  
Disclaimer- (I always forget about these) I'm not J.K Rowling. Please don't sue me.  
  
Chapter 8  
  
Lily and Rachael were sitting in the common room playing chess when Beth came through the portrait hole followed by three other members of the Gryffindor quidditch team. They were all soaking.  
  
Beth looked around spotted Lily and Rachael sitting by the fire and went over to them.  
  
"Hello" she said.  
  
"Could you stand back a bit," Lily said grinning, "you're dripping on me."  
  
"That is because it is pouring outside. I thought this was meant to be October."  
  
"It is October Beth." Rachael said.  
  
"Yeah well it sure doesn't feel like it." Beth replied grumpily, "It is a Friday, I want to relax and our first quidditch match is ages away. But Potter feels the need to have us training for three bloody hours per night. I am wet and exhausted."  
  
"Aww poor ickle Beth" Rachael said, "why don't you go and get changed and then you can play me at chess."  
  
Lily stopped trying to make her bishop go forward and said "I thought I was playing chess with you Rachael."  
  
"Yeah you are, but I'm just about to win."  
  
"Remind me why I always loose at chess." Lily said despairingly.  
  
"Because you suck at chess Lily, it's good for you, everyone has to suck at something. Checkmate."  
  
"Thanks for that Rachael, at least I only suck at chess."  
  
"Yeah, it's alright for some." Beth said before disappearing upstairs to get changed.  
  
Two hours later Beth was dry and beating Rachael at chess. Lily was watching them play and trying to help them.  
  
"Why don't you move that wee guy forward three squares then you could get her knight thingy." Lily said to Rachael.  
  
"Because Lily, that 'wee guy' doesn't move forward, only diagonally, and even if it did move it forward, her rook would get it once I'd taken her knight."  
  
Lily looked at Rachael blankly she had obviously not taken in a word that she had just said.  
  
"Never mind," Rachael said, "I've moved something else now anyway."  
  
"Oh right, okay then." Lily said leaning back in her chair to watch what Beth was going to do.  
  
Although Lily was watching her friends play chess she wasn't really that interested and was thinking of other things. She was just thinking that she should really be using this time to finish a charms essay due to be handed in on Monday when she was woken from her thoughts by someone laughing loudly as they came through the portrait hole. It was Sirius Black. James Potter followed him. James was talking animatedly to a tall dark haired girl called Lauren Williams. Lauren was, like Lily, muggle born and had been friends with Lily in first year but they had drifted apart.  
  
Sirius was laughing so hard that tears were welling up in his eyes.  
  
"What the hell is so funny Padfoot?" James asked, looking bewildered.  
  
Sirius couldn't speak, he was laughing too hard.  
  
"Are you still laughing at that chicken thing in detention?" Lauren asked him, grinning.  
  
Sirius nodded. "Professor ... McGonagall ... totally ... believed ... you!" He managed to say in between gasps for breath.  
  
Lauren and James both giggled, "Yeah," James said to Lauren, "that was pure class."  
  
Sirius flopped into the chair next to Lily's. "We had the best time in detention." He said to Lily."  
  
"I can see." She replied with a small smile, "but doesn't that defy the point of detention."  
  
"Yeah I suppose so." Sirius said, this thought had obviously never occurred to him before.  
  
"Why are you back so late? I thought your detention was supposed to finish and hour ago" Lily asked Sirius.  
  
"Because James and Sirius buggered off to play quidditch instead of coming to detention and McGonagall decided that this was a good enough reason to keep us all in for another hour." Lauren said throwing both James and Sirius a dirty look.  
  
"It's not like we didn't go to detention," James said defiantly, "We were just a bit late."  
  
"And" Sirius said, "We had a laugh when we did come didn't we."  
  
Lauren smiled and said "yeah, but I'd rather not spend my whole Friday evening in detention next week."  
  
"Well you'll have to be a good girl and stick to the rules like Lily here." Sirius said to Lauren.  
  
Lauren smiled at Lily and said, "I don't get how you can be so good all the time, I just slip up sometimes."  
  
"I dunno," Lily said. Did people really think that she was always good. How boring can you get? she thought to herself.  
  
"Well I envy you, however you do it." Lauren said.  
  
"No you shouldn't, being good all he time sucks." Lily said suddenly, surprising everyone, especially herself.  
  
"Who are you and what have you don't with Lily?" Sirius said tapping Lily's forehead.  
  
Lily smiled sadly, "I am Lily Sirius, boring, predictable old Lily."  
  
******************************  
  
Okay, like I said before, I'm really, really sorry I haven't updated in months, and all my readers have probably left me. But if you have just read this could you please review. Thanks xxx 


	9. Chapter 9

Thanks for reviewing my last chapter and not giving up on me.  
  
Angelbud2233 - Ye him sorry for the lack of action, that was a kind way of putting it ;) I was just feeling crap because I hadn't updated in months so I sat down at the computer and told myself not to get up until the next chapter was done, incidentally I did get up, but that's not the point. I think this chapter doesn't really fit in with the rest of the story, but I'll put it up anyway and you can tell me what you think  
  
Disclaimer: J.K owns not me.  
  
Chapter 9:  
  
James lay in bed that night wondering what had been wrong with Lily earlier. He had kept to his new plan and hardly talked to her for weeks, but he hadn't really flirted with other girls either. He couldn't really see the fun in it anymore. But Lily had been acting strangely earlier. When Lauren started talking about Lily being really good, Lily had seemed kind of distant and then announced that being good sucks. And after saying that she was boring and predictable she had gone upstairs to bed looking really depressed. This wasn't like Lily at all. She was always happy except when she was shouting at James and, in James's eyes, she was perfect. He never thought she was boring and he liked the way she was always good.  
  
Lily was also lying in bed awake. Rachael and Beth had both come up to the dormitory a while after she had gone upstairs. They had asked if she was all right and she had just said was tired. But she wasn't she wasn't tired at all. She was very awake. She had changed since last year. She had always been happy with being good and the teachers' pet, but now she was beginning to wonder if she had wasted her years in Hogwarts being "good".  
  
"What is wrong with me?" she asked herself, "what the bloody hell is wrong with me?"  
  
A face entered Lily's mind, James Potter. He had changed too. He had grown up. Lily though that maybe he had grown out of his crush on her, but instead of making her feel better, this thought made her feel even worse. "He doesn't like me anymore because I'm too boring, he'll fall for someone like Lauren, she's way more fun than I am." Lily thought. And suddenly she wanted to get out, get out of her school, get out of her life.  
  
She climbed quietly out of bed, pulled on some combat trousers and a sweatshirt and left her dormitory.  
  
"Where do you think you're going?" the fat lady asked her when she left the common room, but Lily ignored her.  
  
"Why do I feel like this?" She kept asking herself over and over. Her parents loved her and were very proud of her, she was head girl, Petunia hated her but that wasn't anything new. She had two great best friends and Potter wasn't following her around like a lost puppy anymore. She had no reason to feel like this at all, but she still did.  
  
When Lily reached the entrance hall she opened the door and was hit by a blast of cold air. She slipped outside and shut the door behind her. The rain was falling fast and hard but Lily felt better already. She suddenly needed to run she had felt trapped for a long time so she sprinted around the grounds for a long time before collapsing under a huge oak tree. Its leaves were beginning to turn brown and some had even fallen off already. "Autumn is coming." Lily thought to herself. She liked autumn. When she and Petunia were younger and still got along, Petunia would bring Lily to their local park and they would spend ages just stamping on all the leaves to hear the crunching sound they made. Lily's eyes began to close and suddenly she was all alone in a small dark space, she wanted to get out, but she couldn't because she knew there was something waiting on the other side of the door to get her. She didn't know what the thing waiting for her was, she just knew that she must not go outside of the room she was in. But the room was getting smaller and she couldn't breath and she knew that she had to get out even if there was something waiting for her, but when she tuned to look for the door it was gone and the walls were nearly touching her now and she couldn't breath and she knew she was going to die and she screamed for help but no one came and she couldn't breath...Her eyes snapped open. She had fallen asleep. She drew deep calming breaths, sucking in the cool early morning air. The sun was beginning to rise over the mountains and although she didn't have her watch, Lily thought that it must be sometime between four and five in the morning.  
  
She felt a lot calmer than he had done the night before, but she was tired so she leant back against the trunk of the tree and closed her eyes.  
  
James got to sleep very late and woke up around half four in the morning with a very sore throat. "Damn" he said to himself. He was meant to be going to Hogsmead with Sirius, Remus and Peter, but his nose was blocked and his throat felt sore and dry.  
  
He got out of bed to get a drink of water. Once he had filled a glass with water he went over to window and looked out. The rain from the day before seemed to have cleared the sky and it was now a pinkish colour. He could feel a cold draft from under the window and was about to step back from the window and climb back into his bed when a bright spot under a tree in the grounds caught his eye. He stepped forward to press his face against the window to try and see what the thing in the grounds was. After a squinting in that direction for a minute or two, he realised that it was a person. "Shit, what the hell is a person doing out there at this time" he exclaimed.  
  
"Whatdyasay?" Sirius said, his eyes still closed.  
  
"There's someone out there Sirius," James told him.  
  
"Mmm." Sirius turned over and James heard his breathing becoming loud and steady.  
  
"Thanks a lot Sirius." James said. He went over to his wardrobe and pulled out some clothes. He thought that he better go out to tell the person to come in if they didn't want to die of hypothermia and he wasn't remotely tired anymore.  
  
He climbed out of the portrait hole and down the many steps until he was in the entrance hall. He heard someone walking along a corridor leading onto the great hall and cursed himself for not bringing his invisibility cloak. He pulled himself up against the wall, but the person didn't come into the hall, they stepped through a door on the right of the corridor and James heard their footsteps die away. He pulled open the door and went outside before anyone else came through the entrance hall. He headed towards the tree he had seen the person under.  
  
As he got closer he saw hair that had turned a very deep red colour from the rain, the person's face was almost yellow, tinged with purple. They had their eyes shut, but even from a distance James could tell it was Lily.  
  
He ran towards her and kneeled down beside her. "Shit Lily, wake up." He shook her gently but she didn't stir. He picked up her hand which was freezing. It was yellow, and the skin beneath her nails was blue. "Please don't be dead Lily." He said to her.  
  
She opened her eyes. "I'm not dead Potter, just absolutely freezing." And before she knew it, James had pulled her into a bone crunching hug.  
  
****************************  
  
I said at the beginning of this that I don't really think it fits in with the story and I did try to change it so it would, but review and tell me what you think. Thanks xx 


	10. Chapter 10

Thank you to those of you, who reviewed chapter 9, I'm glad you liked it, so I think I'll carry on with that plot. Unfortunately I just deleted half of chapter 10 and I'm feeling mighty pissed. But I'll start again.  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine J.K's  
  
Chapter 10:  
  
"Potter get off me, you're suffocating me." Lily said into James's jumper.  
  
"Sorry Lily, I thought you were dead."  
  
"Yeah, I figured," Lily said.  
  
James looked at her. She was dripping wet and blue with cold. "We need to get you inside." He said to her.  
  
"Can you help me up then?" Lily held out her hand to help James pull her up. He took it and heaved her to her feet. "Oww, my legs are numb." She whimpered.  
  
"You can lean on me." James was tempted to flex his muscles but resisted, because he didn't think Lily would be very impressed.  
  
Lily leant on James and he helped her walk up to the castle. "Just out of interest." James said cautiously in case Lily bit off his head, "why were you out in the grounds at this time in the morning?"  
  
Lily didn't seem to be in the mood for snapping of peoples' heads, because she answered quite calmly, "I went out last night and I fell asleep."  
  
"You're mad." James replied shaking his head slightly.  
  
James helped Lily up the steps and through the door, where they were hit by a blast of warm air. They were just about to go up the stairs when they met Professor McGonagal going down them.  
  
"This is a bit early for breakfast isn't it?" She said, then she leaned closer and said in mock disbelief, "Are my eyes deceiving me? Is this Lily Evans and James Potter walking together without taking chunks out of each other?" She leaned even closer and said, "Good heavens Lily, what have you been doing? You look dreadful."  
  
"Thank you professor."  
  
"I'm quite serious Miss Evans, I think you should go to the hospital wing immediately. Potter you can escort her there. Make sure she goes."  
  
"Okay Professor." James said before steering Lily in the direction of the hospital wing.  
  
"I don't think I need to go to the hospital wing, I feel loads better." Lily said, letting go of James's arm. Her legs buckled underneath her and James grabbed her to stop her falling.  
  
"Yeah, sure you're better." James said sarcastically. "Professor McGongal told me to bring you to the hospital wing, so that is what I'll do."  
  
"Since when have you been so keen to follow rules?" Lily asked huffily.  
  
James gave her a shocked look, "I always follow rules Lily, are you suggesting I'm some kind of rebel."  
  
"Oh shut up and bring me to the hospital wing." Lily said in an annoyed voice. But James knew she was enjoying this particular argument.  
  
When they reached the hospital wing Lily stopped and said, "Well thanks for bringing me up her Potter."  
  
"No problem."  
  
"You can go now."  
  
"Nah, I'll come in, make sure you've not got hypothermia or something."  
  
"Gee Potter, I never knew you cared." Lily said with a smile.  
  
"Yeah you do." James said pulling her into the hospital wing.  
  
"What an earth have you been doing?" The matron asked Lily, disapprovingly.  
  
"Well it was raining and I was outside and I got kinda wet." Lily said.  
  
"Hmm, the thing these children get up to these days," The matron muttered to herself, "off with your boyfriend here." She said, nodding her head at James.  
  
"He's not my boyfriend." Lily looked horrified, "He's ... Potter."  
  
"Hmm," The matron said again. "Well this Potter can take himself back to his common room, while I go and get you some warm dry clothes." She said, disappearing off to find something for Lily to wear.  
  
"Well, I better go then." James said.  
  
"Yeah," Lily said, turning away from him. But when he was almost at the door she turned back around and yelled, "James."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Thanks."  
  
James smiled and left the hospital wing before stopping, punching the air and saying triumphantly, "Yes!! She called me James!"  
  
Okay, I know nothing much happens in this chapter but I thought that would be a good place to stop. Review and tell me what you think. Thanks xxx 


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Property of J.K  
  
Chapter 11:  
  
Lily was just leaving the hospital wing when she bumped into Rachael and Beth, both looking very worried.  
  
"What happened Lily, Potter said you were in the hospital wing. What are you wearing?" Rachael said when she saw Lily.  
  
"Oh, em, I was out for a walk last night and I felt a bit tired and I sort of fell asleep and Potter found me this morning and brought me up here." Lily said quickly, then tugged at the baggy, flowery dress she was wearing, "this thing belongs to the matron, I had a choice between wearing this or nothing, so the dress won."  
  
"It's, well ... floral." Beth said with a smile, "But are you alright?"  
  
"Yeah, course I'm all right, why wouldn't I be?"  
  
"Em.. Because you were out all night in the rain. Are you sure you're ok?" Rachael said, still looking concerned.  
  
"Yep, I said I was didn't I, but the matron says I can't go to Hogsmead."  
  
"That's not really surprising," Beth said, "we'll stay here with you."  
  
"No you can't." Lily said suddenly.  
  
"Why not exactly?" Rachael asked, confused.  
  
"Because I have those dress robes on order from 'Witch's wardrobe' the owner said if I don't pick them up today then she'll give them to someone else." Lily said, "I completely forgot about them, can one of you get them for me?" she asked hopefully.  
  
"I'll get them Lily," Beth said and Rachael can stay with you. "They won't let her back in there anyway, not after last time."  
  
Lily giggled. "I had no idea that the juice was going to burn holes in the robes," Rachael said defiantly.  
  
Lily looked at her suspiciously, "It was called 'Fire Hot Pumpkin Juice' if I remember correctly, and we were going to put it in Potter's Pumpkin juice, but then you spilled it all over those robes and got yourself banned from going there again."  
  
Rachael grinned. "Ok, I'm sorry Miss bossy-boots, but Beth isn't banned so she can get them."  
  
The three girls reached the portrait hole, said the password and went into the common room.  
  
"I think you should go with Beth." Lily said to Rachael, "I'll be fine, honest."  
  
"Hmm, we'll see," Rachael said, still unsure whether or not to go to Hogsmead.  
  
Beth turned to Lily, "There's James, maybe you should thank him."  
  
"I already did." Lily said blushing slightly.  
  
"You did?" Rachael asked, " someone's changed their tune, she mimicked Lily "'If I remember correctly' not long ago he was a big-headed prat."  
  
"Yeah well, maybe he's grown up a bit, he was acting ok earlier." Lily said.  
  
"Good God," Beth pretended to faint, falling backwards into an armchair, "What is this world coming to?"  
  
At that moment Sirius came up behind Rachael snaking his arms around her waist, "Are you ready to go to Hogsmead?" He asked her.  
  
"Sirius, I'm really sorry, I can't Lily's ill, I'm staying here with her." Rachael said, turning to face Sirius.  
  
"No I'm not ill!" Lily said, "Rachael please go to Hogsmead."  
  
"I don't know, what if you fall ill while I'm there?"  
  
"James isn't going, the poor poppet has a cold, and Lauren is banned form this trip." Sirius said, "You promised!"  
  
"You did promise." Said Lily  
  
"Fine! I'll go," said Rachael, but don't do anything stupid like going for another nap in the rain." She said warningly to Lily.  
  
"I won't, I promise." Lily said, smiling. "Ok, well we better go now then," Rachael said. "We'll see you this evening." And she took Sirius's hand and left the common room.  
  
Fifteen minutes later Beth left leaving Lily with Lauren, James and a bunch of first and second years.  
  
James went upstairs to get his broomstick and his polish, the handle was getting a bit dull and this would be a good time to polish it. When he came back down Lily wasn't there.  
  
"D'ya know where Lily is?" He asked Lauren, trying to sound casual, but she wasn't fooled.  
  
"God, you're so obvious," she said with a grin.  
  
"Do you know where she is Lauren?" He asked her again.  
  
"Hmm, let me think," She said, pretending to be thinking hard.  
  
"Lauren!"  
  
"Ok, ok, keep your hair on, she went upstairs to get changed. She'll probably be back down soon."  
  
James said thanks and went to sit on the sofa beside the fire. About ten minutes later Lily came down the stairs from the girls' dormitories dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt and carrying a book. She sat on the other side of the sofa from James and held her hands over the fire.  
  
"Why is it always so cold in here?" she asked.  
  
Lauren smiled, "I don't know, I asked Professor McGonagal once but she just told me to stop asking stupid questions when I was supposed to be doing a test."  
  
Lily smiled back and said, "Well, they obviously just don't want us to know."  
  
"Yeah," Lauren replied fingering a ring in her lip.  
  
"Did it hurt?" Lily asked her.  
  
"Did what hurt?"  
  
"The lip ring."  
  
"Yeah, like hell, but I can be a bit of a weakling." Lauren said with a grin, "my brother Alex did it for me before he moved away."  
  
Lily was surprised, she hadn't known Lauren had any brothers or sisters, she realised that she didn't really know anything about her at all, despite being in all her classes for seven years.  
  
"Do you have any other brothers or sisters?" Lily asked her.  
  
Lauren grimaced, "Yeah a sister, she's two years older than me. A muggle like the rest of my family, they all think I'm a bit of a weirdo, except from Alex. He's 22, but he doesn't get on with my family so he moved down south this summer." She sighed, "I can't wait until I'm old enough to move away."  
  
Lily smiled sympathetically, "I have an older sister called Petunia." She pulled a face, "We don't get on. She thinks I'm a freak, because of Hogwarts. But my parents don't, they're proud."  
  
"God I wish mine were proud," Lauren said, "Last summer they asked if it was possible for me to stay a Hogwarts during the summer holidays. What kind of parents do that?"  
  
Lily was shocked, "That's horrible, are they like that to your sister."  
  
"God no. Jennifer is perfection in their eyes. When I'm at home, it always, 'why can't you be more like Jennifer,' or 'Jennifer would never do something as stupid as that.' They even used to compare Alex to Jennifer." Lauren said bitterly, "And they have no idea what a bitch Jennifer is when they're not around."  
  
"That's really awful," Lily said, feeling really sorry for Lauren.  
  
"It's ok though, I go and stay with my Gran in the summer holidays sometimes, she understands."  
  
"Well at least you have her." Lily said.  
  
"Yeah, thank the lord for that, now Alex has moved away I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have my Gran."  
  
"Yeah," Lily said thoughtfully.  
  
+*+*+*+*+*+*+  
  
James looked at the book Lily was reading, it was 'Quidditch through the Ages'. "Hey," he said to her, "I didn't know you liked Quidditch."  
  
Lily raised her eyebrows, "There's a lot of things you don't know about me Potter."  
  
"Do you play?" He asked her.  
  
She sighed, "Not very well, my hand eye co-ordination is non-existent."  
  
James grabbed his chance, "I could teach you, I mean if you want sometime."  
  
Lily looked at him to see if he was being serious, but there was no sign that he was joking, so she smiled and said, "Yeah that'd be good." And went back to reading her book.  
  
For the second time that day James punched the hair and said, "Yes!" but this time he did it in his head.  
  
***************************  
  
Hope you enjoyed. Review! Thanks xxx 


	12. Chapter 12

Sorry for not updating in ages, my computer broke and we had to send it to London to be fixed and when they sent it back to us they had broken it more so I've not had the internet for months :(

I'm still working on this so I'm _very very very_ sorry if I disappear again.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter ain't mine

Chapter 12

Lily was sitting in History of Magic staring out of the window at the wet ground outside wishing that she was somewhere else. On one side of her a blonde haired girl called Cathy was applying her mascara and on her other side Rachael was absent-mindedly tearing up a piece of parchment. Lily looked around the classroom, not one person looked as though they were taking in any of the information Professor Binns was giving them. Remus Lupin was sitting with a quill and a piece of parchment as if he had intended to take notes, but instead he was staring straight in front him clearly in another world. Next to him Sirius was drawing on his arms Lily looked over to James who was sitting next to Sirius and realised he was staring right at her. When her eyes met his he blushed a deep red and quickly looked away. Rachael noticed this and nudged Lily saying, "Wonder what he was thinking".

Lily smiled and told Rachael to shut up. She kind of liked having this power over James. It used to be him who made her red, now it was his turn. She looked at James, waiting until he looked up, when he did she looked into his eyes just long enough to make him feel uncomfortable and then looked out of the window. She glanced at him, his face was burning red, and she smiled to herself.

James felt himself going red and cursed Lily. He looked down hoping his face would cool down quickly. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lily look at him and smile to herself. She was playing with him. Well, he thought to himself, two can play at that game.

Lily knew someone was staring at her, she guessed (correctly) that it was James and decided to have some more fun so she turned to look at him. He was staring intently into her eyes, so she looked back into his. But instead of James getting embarrassed like Lily intended she felt a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, and felt her own face getting hotter. James smirked slightly and then tore his gaze away from Lily's scarlet face.

Rachael turned to speak to Lily then said loudly, "Woah, are you okay Lily you're bright red?" Rachael's voice rang loudly around the stone classroom and the only person who didn't turn to look at Lily was Professor Binns.

Sirius looked at her, grinned and wolf whistled, "that's a good look Lily, natural blusher."

Lily sunk down in her chair, wishing she could slide right down under her desk.

Rachael looked around, realising what she had done, "Oops, sorry Lils, ha, you're even redder now."

"Really?" Lily said, her voce dripping with sarcasm. "I wonder why?"

Beth giggled and said, "If looks could kill, you'd be dead Rachael."

"I'm sorry Lily" Rachael said for the 100th time as the two of them entered the great hall for their dinner, "I don't see the big deal about going a bit red."

"You wouldn't," Lily replied fervently, "Your skin is dark, I have red hair and half the time my skin is the same colour! You wouldn't understand unless you have experienced it!"

Rachael put her hands up in mock surrender, "Ok, ok its dreadful, awful, terrible."

Lily smiled, "Thank-you, Now what's for lunch?"

Lily and Rachael were eating they're lunch when Beth, Sirius and James entered the hall after an extra quidditch practise that James, who was obsessed with their upcoming match, had squeezed into the first half hour of lunch.

They walked over to Lily and Rachael and Sirius sat next to Rachael, and James sat next to Lily. Beth looked at Lily who was looking at her pleadingly, shrugged and sat on the other side of Sirius. Lily glared down the table at her.

"We had a good practise," James said. "We'll beat Slytherin easily"

Lily wasn't sure if he was talking to her or himself so she settled with saying, "Mmm".

"What does that mean?" James asked her.

"Whatever you want it to mean." Lily replied, sprinkling cheese onto her baked potato.

"So it can mean, 'I want to go out with you James' " James said with a grin.

"No"

"But you just sai..."

Lily cut him off, "I lied, it just means mmm."

"Oh, that's a bummer." James said, grinning at Lily and surprisingly she found herself smiling back.

"Lily?" James asked cautiously,

"Yes"

"Do you still want to learn how to play quidditch?"

"Yeah,"

"Do you want to try tonight, the weather's cleared up."

"Em, ok."

"Cool" James looked down at his lunch, happy that he was getting on with Lily.

"Maybe I should tell James to leave the quidditch for another night," Lily said to Beth, "I have loads of homework and it's going to get dark soon."

"No Lily, he's offered, it would be rude to change your mind"

"But I'm always rude, I don't think he'd notice."

Beth sighed exasperatedly, "He does notice Lily."

"Does he? Woops" Lily said. "I suppose I should go. I do want to play quidditch, but I hope he doesn't try to knock me off my broom or something."

"Why would he do that?" Beth asked.

Lily closed her books, said, "Because it's James we're talking about here," and got up to ask James if they should go down to the quidditch pitch.

James was sitting by himself when he saw Lily approaching him. "Should we go down to the quidditch pitch now?" she asked him.

He looked up at Lily and smiled, "Yeah if you're ready, do you have a broom."

Lily suddenly realised that she didn't have a broom, "Eh, no actually."

"Well," James said, "That's going to it a bit harder to learn how to play quidditch."

"I'll use a school one"

James shook his head, "The school brooms are crap. I'll ask Sirius if you can borrow his."

"Ok" Lily watched him as he went over to Sirius who was sitting next to fire. Trying to remember why she hated him.

She felt someone looking at her and turned around to see Beth smirking at her with her eyebrows raised.

"What?" Lily asked.

Beth didn't answer. Just kept on smirking to herself.

"What are you laughing at??" Lily asked again.

"You and James"

"What about me and James?" Lily said, it felt strange pairing her name with his like she had just done.

"You like him don't you? As more than a friend." Beth said.

"No!" Lily said, "I think the complete opposite!"

Beth just smiled wider and said, "The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference."

Lily was about to answer her back when she felt James tap her on the shoulder, he was holding two brooms, "You ready?" He asked. Lily nodded, gave Beth an evil look and followed James out of the common room.

Half and hour later Lily sat down on the quidditch pitch and folded her arms. "It's no use James! I suck at this. I can't concentrate on the balls and staying on my broom at the same time."

James sat down beside her, noting that she had called him James again, "Yes you can, it's your first time, you'll get better with practise."

Lily smiled at him and said doubtfully, "Maybe"

"There's no maybe about it, believe it or not, I was the same when I started playing."

Lily pretended to look shocked, "No, the wonderful James Potter, not good at something?"

He grinned and played along, "Hard to believe I know"

She hit him lightly on the side of his head and said, "Lets go inside I can't feel my toes."

James nodded and stood up, brushing grass off his robes. They walked up to the castle in silence, both lost in thought. James was just trying to get his head round the fact that he and Lily seemed to be able to have proper conversations and Lily was thinking about what Beth said earlier, she knew she didn't hate James any more, but she didn't like him as more than a friend....did she?


End file.
